CURRICULUM FOCUS:

As written, it is focused broadly on the subject of heroes. Applicable for grades 9-l2.

INTEGRATE WITH:

All disciplines could potentially be integrated into the unit.

OBJECTIVES:

Students will:

Study heroes and their place in society from mythological times to present day.
Compare and contrast heroes who exhibit positive and negative influences on society across various disciplines.
Internalize the characteristics of heroes in order to develop their own personal mission statements.

NONFICTION LINK

Students will peruse ADVENTURE HEROES: LEGENDARY CHARACTERS FROM ODYSSEUS TO JAMES BOND by Jeff Rovin. Have each student select three adventure heroes and report on the qualities that make them heroes.

PRE-VIDEO ACTIVITY

Prior to watching the ATV video, select one of the following introductory exercises for your class:

Have students view and discuss the video, "THE POWER OF VISION" by Joel Barker.
Place students into small discussion groups. Hand out the three quotes listed below. Groups are
- to discuss the validity of each quote and
- to determine whether the quotes have significance in their personal lives and to their own perceptions of a hero. Have each group report their conclusions to the class.
  
  Heroes are ordinary people, doing extraordinary things, at an extraordinary time."
  
  "Choice, not chance, determines your destiny."
  
  "The only difference between the person you are today and the person you will be in five years will depend on the people you associate with, the books you read, and the movies you watch."
Have students read short biographical sketches of ordinary people who could be considered heroes. Possible sources for these sketches include Time magazine's "Local Hero," Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd," Readers' Digest's "Heroes for Today," or "So What Did You Do Today" from the May, 1997 edition of Outdoor Magazine.

Have students individually analyze characteristics/behaviors from the readings which could identify individuals as heroes. Allow students to share their lists in small groups. Finally, have the groups share their findings with the entire class.

EXTENSION: Each group could create a poster for display in the classroom.

WATCH THE BROADCAST OR PRE-TAPED VIDEO OF ATV's "SPORTS, ENTERTAINMENT, AND HEROES."

POST-VIDEO ACTIVITIES:

ACTIVITY ONE:

Students will role play/respond to present day moral and ethical issues from threes points of view: a mythological hero, historical hero, and contemporary hero.

Have students draw names from a list of heroes identified by the teacher. Names might include:

Mythological Heroes:

Achilles
Arthur
Helen of Troy
King David
Odysseus
Paul Bunyan
Perceval
Perseus
Siddhartha Gautama

Historical Heroes:

Benjamin Franklin
Chief Joseph
Christa McAuliffe
Clara Barton
Crazy Horse
Dorothea Lange
Dwight Eisenhower
Eleanor Roosevelt
Elliot Ness
Golda Meir
Jeannette Rankin
Joan of Arc
John Lennon
John Wayne
Julius Caesar
Mahatma Gandhi
Malcolm X
Mao Zedong
Marcus Polo
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Napoleon Bonaparte
Queen Elizabeth I
Robert E. Lee
Sacajawea
St. Francis
Sun Yat-sen
Ulysses S. Grant

Contemporary Heroes:

Clint Eastwood
Dalai Lama
Desmond Tutu
George Lucas
H. Norman Schwarzkopf
Herschel Walker
John Horner
Madonna
Margaret Thatcher
Michael Jordan
Mother Teresa
Muhammad Ali
Nelson Mandela
Oprah Winfrey
Rosa Parks
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Scott O'Grady
Susan Butcher
Suzanne Farrell
Tiger Woods

Possible Contemporary Issues:

Affirmative Action
Censorship of the Media/TV
Cloning
Economics
Ethics in Politics
Global Warming
Illegal Substances
Mideast Peace
Space Exploration
Technology
Teen pregnancy
Terrorism

Have the students debate a contemporary issue in a panel discussion format. The teacher should match appropriate heroes and contemporary issues -- e.g. Brutus, John Wayne, Abraham Lincoln, and Mother Theresa could debate the Brady Bill. Assist students to research their assigned characters and the issue to discover how their characters would respond to the modern problem. Encourage students to use costumes and colloquialisms depicting their character. Consider varying the audience for the panel to include fellow classmates, school employees, parents, grandparents, business people, and government employees and officials. Perhaps the role play could be performed at a retirement center.

ACTIVITY TWO:

Convene a panel of community leaders such as the mayor, a county commissioner, state representative, store owner, and/or others to discuss the issue of contemporary heroes. This discussion could take place in a school wide assembly.

Plan this assembly through a collaborative process with your students: develop a guest list, write or phone invitations, and make the technical arrangements for the auditorium. Consider inviting the media. Have your students formulate questions relating to heroic qualities, the role passion plays in success, and the achievement of personal goals. Sample questions might read: Mr. Mayor, do you consider yourself a hero? Who were your heroes? Other questions might be patterned after those asked by Larry King on the ATV video.

Select a student moderator and have the students conduct the assembly.

Conduct a follow up discussion and/or writing assignment asking students to reflect on the project and the responses of the panel.

ACTIVITY THREE:

Have students create a multi-media display depicting characteristics they feel a hero should possess. Seek display areas outside the classroom, e.g., the main entrance to the school, the cafeteria, the library, a local museum or shopping mall.

The exhibit should include a wide variety of media: biographies, quotes, poems, songs (or lyrics), pictures, video, art work, costumes, skits, speeches, and computer multi-media presentations.

Individual Student Assessment:

As part of the exhibit, have students create a symbolic representation of a self-portrait. (A possible format might be a coat of arms.) This self-portrait could include:

1) a personal mission statement
2) personal goals
3) personal passions
4) a personal definition of success
5) personal heroic qualities

Written essays could satisfactorily complete this assignment. But consider having students create visual symbols, accompanied by an "artist's statement."

(THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Steven R. Covey may be a valuable reference for the teacher.)